Patients need support

ST Giles Hospital medical superintendent Dr Peni Biukoto believes the absence of a community support system is a contributing factor leading people with mental health problems on the streets.

He said although there had been no known study to determine whether there was an increase in the number of people with mental health problems living on the streets, clinical experiences showed lack of support from their immediate families.

"The truth is that no study has been done to know the cause of a person(s) with mental illness living on the street in Fiji," Dr Biukoto said.

Statistics provided to this newspaper indicates that readmission rate had not dropped for the first quarter of the year.

In January this year 373 patients were seen in the outpatients department, 358 for February and 372 for March.

From this figures, 45 were admitted for January, 30 for February and 29 for March which also revealed 11 patients returning to the hospital in January and had been recorded as re-admission patients, 23 re-admissions for February and 21 for March.

For the month of January 29 patients visited the hospital for the first time, 24 in February and 35 in March.

The figures also stated the hospital recorded four cases where people who came in for treatment for the month of January were suicidal, two for the month of February and two for March.